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Applying to medical school

Overview

The application deadline for medicine is usually
mid-October; it is earlier than the deadline for most other degree
courses, and if you miss the deadline there will be no opportunity
to apply for a further year. The application process opens in
mid-September. Applicants for medicine are given four choices of
courses (most other degree applicants can choose up to five
courses).

The application is made online on the UCAS website. The
UCAS website also gives you a list of universities where you can
study medicine; further information and links to the website
address of each medical school are included.

The information on the UCAS website also includes details of
graduate entry programmes (GEPs) - these are for those who already
have a degree. The UCAS website will give you information on
whether you need to have a degree in a scientific area and
information about the minimum requirement. Graduate candidates
normally need a first or upper second class honours degree. Some
graduate programmes will accept applicants who do not have a
scientific degree. For further information on GEPs see our guide
for those considering applying for the
accelerated graduate entry programme to medicine.

Several medical schools run a six-year course, which includes a
one year foundation/pre-clinical course. This course aims to better
prepare applicants for undergraduate medical education. Often these
courses are designed for those with no, or limited experience of,
laboratory based science and who have not studied chemistry.

Widening participation schemes into medicine
are designed to increase the numbers of applications to medical
school from students with disadvantaged backgrounds, e.g. those
attending a school that has a below average performance level,
those with a disability and those whose parents or carers did not
attend university.

Completing an intercalated degree is an opportunity to obtain a
further qualification whilst studying your medical degree. We have
more information on intercalated
degrees and it is something to be aware of before you
apply. From a careers’ point of view completing an
intercalated degree can give you some valuable experience in
research and can help bolster your applications to the next stages
after medical school. It is important to note that it will add
another year onto your studies. Some medical schools expect
all or most of their students to complete these, others do
not. The medical
schools' websites will guide you on the local information on
intercalated degrees.

It is important that you allow yourself plenty
of time to complete the application form and that you adhere to the
deadline given. You will also need to consider that your referees
will need time to write references and you should not expect them
to complete these just before the published closing date.

The UCAS website has some excellent advice on
how best to complete your
personal statement. We also provide detailed advice in our
application form section. As medicine is
extremely competitive it is crucial that you spend some time and
effort on the personal statement. It is also essential to get some
work experience in a medical setting. This does not need to be in a
hospital, it could be in an old persons’ home or as a volunteer at
a hospice etc. You may be asked about your experience and these
interests if you are called to the medical school for an interview,
so you need to be prepared to talk about them. See our page on
work experience.

Another thing to consider whilst choosing which medical school
to apply to is whether or not the medical school teaches by
Problem Based Learning (PBL). This type of teaching is where the
stages of learning are centred around a specific
problem (such as a short clinical case scenario). This is different
to conventional teaching. Again the medical schools' websites will
indicate whether they incorporate PBL or not into
their courses. You can read further about this in our 'Choosing a medical school' guide.

UKCAT

Many medical schools will require potential
students to undertake the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT). There
is a practice test on the following website that we would urge you
to complete before you take the actual test: http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/.